So after further discussion, I found out that he was a manager of various musicians. I nonchalantly asked who he managed. I figured I probably wouldn't know of them, because I don't really follow music avidly any more, certainly not as I did in the 60's and 70's. He said "Well, you may have heard of Lady Gaga......" I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't! Now, everyone has heard of her, huh? Well, I sort of did....
He then invited myself and my wife Ronni up to her impending concert at the TD center in Boston to take some Lady Gaga concert photos! Wow! I hadn't photographed a concert of that magnitude in years! I was quite honored.
I was given unprecidented VIP access, and could wander around shooting right next to the stage, and throughout the whole extraveganza. Nowadays, most press photographers are ushered out of concerts after the first two songs!
Lady Gaga did not fail to impress. Her show has incredible production values, and runs like a well choreographed Broadway musical. What impressed me the most was her sequence of songs when all the pomp and circumstance was stripped down to the core, and it was just she, a piano and a mic. Her voice is pristine, and out of the box songwriting, playing and stage presence is riviting. Some of my best Lady Gaga concert photos from that night are those from that bare boned piano sequence.
In that most of her rabid audience is less than half my age, I sensed I'd feel completely out of place. But somehow, I felt at home, probably because I had been to more than my share of Marley, Dead, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Brooce and Carly concerts through the prime times of my life.
Above all else, it was very creatively fulfilling to simply get the opportunity to photograph, up close and personally, one of the greatest cultural icons of the current era, and be able to update my stable of iconic images.
After the extravanganza, Ronni and I were invited backstage to meet the diva herself. It reminded me of "The Wizard of Oz," where you see the "man behind the curtain." Stephanie turned out to be just a plainly sweet and very pleasant "ordinary girl" from the upper East Side of Manhattan.
Now I'm pleased to be able to show you these Lady Gaga concert photos, and add them to my ever growing body of work. Please go to http://www.petersimon.com/ and then click into "photo inventory" to see more selections, and maybe even buy one for your very own! Oh....I promise I will be more functional about adding updates to my photo journal on a more consistent basis. Stay tuned!
